Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Estonia and from Shanghai.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1964 to 1976.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lyon and Salvador.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Shanghai kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979 at the first Second Layer practice in a loft in South London.
I was working on the güiro sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 to the jazz kids.
I played it at CBGB's.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Angels of Light & Akron/Family. All the underground hits.
All Eric B and Rakim tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Wire record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rap hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a clarinet and a harpsichord and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Sugar Minott record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a clarinet.
I hear that you and your band have sold your clarinet and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Charles Mingus,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Arab on Radar,
Nation of Ulysses,
Alison Limerick,
Danielle Patucci,
Sly & The Family Stone,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Franke,
One Last Wish,
Sun City Girls,
Mission of Burma,
World's Most,
Iggy Pop,
The Victims,
Jacob Miller,
It's A Beautiful Day,
Throbbing Gristle,
The Happenings,
James White and The Blacks,
CMW,
Gang Gang Dance,
Robert Görl,
Jawbox,
Circle Jerks,
H. Thieme,
Fad Gadget,
Angels of Light & Akron/Family,
Schoolly D,
Tres Demented,
Roxy Music,
The Index,
Rowland S Howard / Lydia Lunch,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
The Slackers,
Notorious Big And Bone Thugs,
Girls At Our Best!,
Kurtis Blow,
Al Stewart,
Hot Snakes,
Blancmange,
Television Personalities,
New Order,
T.S.O.L.,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
cv313,
Main Source,
Jacques Brel,
Janne Schatter,
Michelle Simonal,
Drexciya,
Organ,
The Velvet Underground,
X-101,
Colin Newman,
Section 25,
June Days,
UT,
The Moody Blues,
Agent Orange,
The Birthday Party,
Eric Copeland,
Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth, Joe Smooth.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.